Flyers aren't out of the woods just yet, not without more consistency

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, of Russia, celebrates his goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)(Photo: Mark J. Terrill, AP)

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Tuesday wasn’t the cure. It was the first step.

The Flyers had been playing awful hockey. Like, start-to-think-about-big-changes bad hockey.

They fixed so many of the things that had ailed them in recent games with a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. The biggest complaint out of that game was another goal allowed by the penalty kill, and that’s a problem a half decade in the making.

Defenseman Radko Gudas said he thought the Flyers were pretty close to finding their game, but, uh….where’d he get that from?

“Was he drunk?” countryman Jake Voracek asked. “I like Gudy but I’ve got to disagree with him. We were very far off; we didn’t play well at all. In some games we did. Eleven games, we played what, three good games? It’s a pretty bad ratio.”

What’s clear is that the Flyers aren’t happy with just one good game. They don’t think that all their problems are gone nor do they think that the ratio is now acceptable with just one more victory.

Even though the Ducks are a handicapped squad, Tuesday’s game was a solid one for two teams that had been struggling mightily. The Flyers defended well, shot the puck a ton and pounded away at goalie Ryan Miller.

“I don’t know if it takes the edge off,” general manager Ron Hexall said. “It was a good win for us. It’s certainly a start. I like the way we played. Certainly in the offensive part of the game all three lines — Lehts’ line didn’t play a ton other than the PK — but the other three lines created a lot. It’s certainly what we’ve been looking for and haven’t got. It’s a step in the right direction but we need to back it up (Thursday). To take the edge off or move forward, however you want to say it, we need to back that up.”

Next up is an even more fragile opponent than a Ducks team that has now lost six straight. The Los Angeles Kings, Hextall’s former team, are without goalie Jonathan Quick who had surgery to repair a torn meniscus and is out indefinitely.

They are tied with the Florida Panthers for the fewest points in the league with seven.

“I don’t think we are in a position to look at who’s in the net. We’re not 9-3. We’re 5-7,” Voracek said. “It doesn’t matter who is in the net. We just gotta make sure we play the same way as we did (Tuesday).”

“It’s one game. I thought we played really well,” echoed Wayne Simmonds, a former member of the Kings. “We’ve just got to continue to do that and play with the intensity we played with (Tuesday) night.

“We can’t be a team who’s doing it one out of every however many games. we’ve got to be solid every single game and play like we did (Tuesday) night to be successful.”